


And Thus, Boy Loved Girl

by JeliBelski



Series: Legacy (An Inheritance Collection) [1]
Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Adoption, Blade physiology simultaneously rocks but sucks, Clueless Rex, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29245707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeliBelski/pseuds/JeliBelski
Summary: Pyra's nature is nurturing. It's only natural that Rex would picture her as a mother.
Relationships: Homura | Pyra/Rex
Series: Legacy (An Inheritance Collection) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2147460
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	And Thus, Boy Loved Girl

**Author's Note:**

> I had a few requests for some Rex/Pyra, and this was the first thing that came to mind. Not sure what else possessed me to write it! 
> 
> For reference, the series this work is a part of fits with my post-canon/AU fic, Inheritance (Mòrag/Zeke). But this particular piece is largely standalone, so it should still make sense if you've not read the other work.

“Wow, Mòrag. You’re huge!”

For a split-second, Rex wondered if Brighid would rush forward and smack him. Pyra saved her the trouble. The impact was far gentler than Brighid would have been, but the back of his head still stung—mainly from the fact that Pyra always seemed to act a little more like Mythra whenever they visited Mor Ardain. Maybe that was her old relationship with the old Brighid bubbling underneath the surface. Or Mythra was just a bad influence. That was more likely. But as long as Pyra kept her cooking capabilities, he’d be happy. 

“ _ Rex!  _ You can’t just go and call a  _ pregnant  _ lady huge! Seriously!” Pyra scolded. Then she turned back to the Flamebringer. “I am  _ so  _ sorry, Mòrag. He can be so tactless sometimes.”

Mòrag gave that little half-smile of hers and eased back onto the sofa across from them. “It’s quite all right,” she said graciously. Then she laughed a little. “After all, he’s not wrong. I am looking a bit like an imperial flagship these days.”

She rubbed her belly with a fond expression on her face. Rex stared, suddenly losing track of what he intended to say next. It was just that this looked so  _ odd.  _ The woman in front of them—she looked like Mòrag, but it wasn’t quite her, either. Mòrag was strong. Agile. Fast. Slender. Strong. Disciplined. Driven. A warrior. A leader. Not exactly congruent with the concept of motherhood. Yes, he knew that women could do both: nurture and destroy—all he had to do was look at Pyra for proof. But something about it being  _ Mòrag  _ of all people failed to compute in his brain. 

Now Pyra...it was easier to picture her as the motherly sort.  _ Huh. Wonder what Pyra would look like with a baby bump.  _ The thought sent an awkward twist in his gut and a burst of heat into his cheeks. No. It wouldn’t do any good thinking about that. Besides, the girls were talking. And he’d been spaced out for several minutes. Maybe longer. If he kept daydreaming like this much longer, he’d be in trouble.

“—and thanks to that school we got set up, Fonsett’s doing a lot better. The headmaster keeps bringing in a bunch of different guest teachers for the kids. It’s actually helped commerce a lot,” Pyra explained. She must have been catching Mòrag and Brighid up about everything going on at home. “Someday we’ll have you come teach them some swordplay!”

Mòrag laughed again. “After that one incident in Corrine’s kitchen, I’m pretty sure the children are still scared of me.”

Brighid shook her head at how flippantly her Driver referenced the “incident.” The Empire had been forced to shell out funds for a new stove. And lumber to repair the damaged wall. “Incident” was putting it mildly. 

“That was two years ago. I bet they’ve forgotten it by now,” Rex volunteered. It might be nice to have Mòrag come and teach the kids a thing or two. Zeke, too. Maybe then he could be off the hook from showing them moves for a while. Not that he minded, of course, but it was really hard to salvage with half a dozen kids screaming “Rex! Show us another Art!” every other hour. Pyra, on the other hand, never looked bothered by the kids’ incessant demands. She was so good with the children. Especially the littlest ones. 

“Whether they remember it or not, I’m afraid I won’t be traveling anywhere for the next several months,” Mòrag replied. 

“Why not? Are you not feeling well?” Rex asked dumbly. The second the words left his mouth, he regretted it. Stupid question—of course women wouldn’t travel this close to their due date. And after birth went without saying. 

The Special Inquisitor rolled her eyes. “I feel excellent, really. I could take you on in a duel if I had to—” Brighid scoffed loudly at that, prompting another eye-roll from her Driver. “It’s Zeke, Brighid, and my doctor that are worried. They seem to think it’s too much even to travel from my office to my room without assistance.”

“Don’t make me sound like such an overbearing hen, Mòrag,” Brighid interjected. “That stack of books yesterday was far too heavy. The weight threw you off balance and you nearly fell over.”

Mòrag apparently decided to dismiss the budding argument. “Regardless, I’ll be glad to be done with all these doctor’s appointments. Speaking of which, I believe I’m going to be late for one. You’ll have to excuse me. Brighid, would you show them to their apartments?”

Rex waved both hands, shooing off the offer. “We can find it ourselves. Same place as usual, right?”

The Flamebringer nodded and stood. “Zeke and I would love it if you joined us for dinner. We’ll be able to catch up properly then.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

“And just let me know if there’s any cooking I can help with,” Pyra added. 

In the two years or so since they’d landed on Elysium, Rex and Pyra had visited Mòrag and Brighid many times—even before Mòrag’s sudden political marriage to Tantal’s prince over a year ago. So they knew the new Hardhaigh Palace quite well. Finding their guest room took no effort easy. Rex plopped himself down on the couch with a heavy sigh. He almost wanted a nap, and yet if he fell asleep now, he might not wake up in time for dinner. 

“Huge—what possessed you to say such a thing?” Pyra asked. Her tone was odd; he couldn’t quite tell if she was teasing him or scolding him. “Rex, that was really insensitive. You could have made her cry.”

“I dunno what came over me. Honest! Come on, she is a lot bigger than the last time we saw her. Even you have to admit that much.”

Pyra shook her head. “Boys,” she muttered, sitting down on the couch beside him. “There are a million other things you could have said. Like the fact that her skin is glowing. Or the cute little sparkle in her eyes. Or that she’ll make a great mom. But commenting on her size—that is the  _ one thing  _ you should never say to a pregnant woman. Not even someone as diplomatic as Mòrag.”

“I’m sorry, okay? Look, if it makes you feel better, I’ll apologize at dinner. I really didn’t mean to be such an idiot.”

The little frustrated spark in Pyra’s eyes faded. She nuzzled a little closer to him, then laid her head in his lap. That calmed him a bit; at least she wasn’t truly mad. But at the same time, her proximity stirred those odd thoughts all over again. He wished she would cuddle against him like this more often. Not that they weren’t comfortable with intimate little touches. Architect knew they’d been together for well over three years now. They’d crossed those lines. And everyone in their group knew they had. Zeke made sure to tease them about it time and time again.  _ Mòrag  _ of all people had asked Pyra about it. 

But Pyra still felt bashful about cuddling or kissing or hugging in front of the others. He respected her wishes, of course, but at the same time, he hated it. This fiery redhead in his lap—he wanted to show her off. Not as the Aegis, but as his girl. His everything. His future.

“It’s odd that some of our friends are going to be parents, don’t you think?”

Rex nodded, running his fingers through her hair. Soft. Still short, just the way he liked it. She talked about growing it out, but never did. For him. “Yeah. For their sakes, I hope the baby takes more after Mòrag. If it’s like Zeke, they might have to rebuild Hardhaigh Palace.”

“...D-do you ever want to have kids?”

His fist accidentally clenched in her hair. Blood rushed to his cheeks all over again. Her question was so out of the blue. Was she reading his mind? Did she know about his little baby bump daydream? Sure, they’ve talked about marriage. But they never bothered to act on it. After all, there was little need for it. They had their own cozy little cottage in Fonsett, and they could always be together. In reality, “marriage” would just be a formal, legal certificate. It wouldn’t change anything about their day-to-day. And for the most part, they liked it that way. 

But kids—that was a topic they  _ never  _ broached. 

The mental image of Pyra with a baby bump surfaced all over again. It was warm. Cute. Perfect. He tried to push it away; it didn’t do any good to think about such a thing. No matter how badly he wanted it. Things just didn’t work that way with Blades. And he couldn’t possibly bring it up.That might make her feel bad. And the last thing he wanted was to see her cry. 

“Rex? What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing.” He racked his brain for some way to change the subject.

He felt her reach out through the ether. The warm sensation from her physical proximity cascaded over his entire body, washing him in the full depth of her presence—emotionally and physically. Even after all this time with her, the way it felt when she triggered their affinity bond made his heart flutter. 

“You’ve been in an odd mood ever since we got here,” she pointed out. Then she sat back and waited for him to talk.

That was one of the main ways she was different from Mythra—whenever something bothered him, she would point out that she noticed it and wait for him to explain. Mythra, on the other hand, pushed. Nagged. Pestered. Yeah, she did it because she cared, but Pyra’s more patient approach always made it easier to confess his real feelings. He resisted the urge to keep his mouth shut. Pyra deserved to know what he was thinking. And he couldn’t hide it forever. Not from her. And maybe, just maybe, seeing their expectant friend had sparked similar feelings for her?

Rex combed his fingers through the tangles he’d unwittingly created in her hair before proceeding. “I, um...well, you see, the thing is—”

She rolled over so she lay face-up in his lap. The ember in her eyes glowed, bright but gentle. “Rex. Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

“Seeing Mòrag like that made me, um, it made me wonder what you would look like pregnant. As a mom.”

Her cheeks blossomed like two pink Wisteria Buds. Her eyebrows shot up, and her mouth opened in a round, unvoiced ‘o.’ Then her expression fell when she realized what his words entailed. 

Damn. Just the reaction he hoped to avoid.

“So you do want kids.  _ Your _ kids.” She sat up awkwardly, hugging her knees against her chest.

“N-no, no, no! That’s not what I meant!” he exclaimed hurriedly. It  _ ached  _ to see that pained expression on her face, and not for the last time did he curse his own big fat mouth. He routinely stuck his foot in it. “Pyra, I swear it was just a dumb little daydream. Nothing more.”

She searched his gaze, then sighed heavily. “It wouldn’t be wrong to feel that way, you know. I’m told it’s natural for humans. After all, if you were with a human girl, you’d probably…” Her voice trailed off.

“Pyra, I swear, I don’t want to be with anybody else. The thought of being with a human has  _ never _ crossed my mind. I don’t care if we can never have kids of our own. You’re the only one for me. Honest.”

That drew a small smile from her, and she nestled her head against his shoulder. “Thanks, Rex...Sorry I can be so insecure at times. I guess after five hundred years alone I need reminding that this isn’t all a dream.”

He wrapped an arm around her, reveling in the scent of her hair. It smelled  _ warm,  _ somehow. Like toasted cinnamon and firewood and baking bread all at once, as if someone had managed to bottle up her fires into a comforting perfume. “I’ll remind you as many times as it takes, Pyra. Promise.”

She sank a little deeper into his arms. “You never did answer my question, you know.”

“About kids?” He paused. “Yeah, someday. I want some. We’d have to adopt, but…now that I think about it, adopting would be perfect. I know I would have given  _ anything  _ to have parents growing up. If we could do that, if we could be there for kids like me—that sounds kind of nice, actually.”

Rex didn’t even have to look at Pyra’s face to know she was smiling. Their affinity bond was burning now.  _ Our emotions are in tune, Rex.  _

“It’s a plan, then,” she said quietly. “But not too soon. I don’t think we’re quite ready for that yet.”

Rex nodded. Statements like that were as close as Pyra ever got to telling him they should make their relationship official. And she was right; their home in Fonsett was small, and his wallet never seemed to fill enough to buy her the ring she deserved. When he finally got around to it, he wanted to do things properly.

“Someday.”

Her voice was soft and breathy, like a dream drifting along the Cloud Sea.  _ Someday.  _ A word full of possibilities. A word of hope—hopes that they could share together, hopes that Pyra herself would never have dared to dream of until they’d found Elysium. A word that meant the future they would share together.

Someday, indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Rex can be such a lovable dork sometimes. 
> 
> Anyway, I'm in a fluff-writing mood, so if there's a piece/scenario you'd like to see, drop it in the comments. Happy weekend!


End file.
